WIDOWED vigneron Paul considers his son Martin (Laurent Deutsch) to lack the qualities necessary for controlling a vertically-integrated operation from vineyard to bottle.
To supervise the next vintage, Paul engages Phillipe (Nicolas Bridet) the son of his foreman Francois (Patrick Chesnais), who is dying of cancer, relegating Martin to dogsbody tasks.
Niels Arestrup gives great monster as Paul, taking Phillipe as his guest at the conferring of the Legion d’Honneur, at every opportunity belittling Martin whose wife accuses Paul of changing sons like he changes shoes.
The visually beautiful film is dramatically uncompromising as Martin’s situation becomes increasingly intolerable. The film screams out for an outcome to break its intense discomfort. Sticking with it until that happens is worth the while.
At Capitol 6
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